Not
too long ago, mankind lived a simple life in harmony with nature. Modern
lifestyles and the population explosion snatched that peace from us
and left us trying to increase production. We invented new ways and
came upon chemical agriculture.

No
doubt by using agricultural chemicals such as fertilizer, pesticides
and so on, we solved our short term goal, but left a dangerous legacy
for future generations. The soil became poisoned and the plants that
grew in it were weak, low yielding and prone to disease. Marginal farmers
despairing at successive crop failure, committed suicide by consuming
the once "magical" pesticides.

We
decided to do whatever we could, in a very small way to help restore
the balance.

Accordingly
in 1992 we finally opted out of the corporate world for a long planned
involvement with sustainable rural development at the very edge of the
Thar Desert.

We now live in Alwar District on our 40-acre farm in eastern Rajasthan,
90 kilometers from Delhi where we demonstrate to farmers ways to maximize
their yields by growing various combinations of fruit trees, crops and
vegetables, organically. Fuel and fodder trees are planted as wind breaks.

When
we bought the farm in 1984 it was degraded sandy land, completely denuded
with just a single Pipal tree. Today there are over 65,000 trees.

Our
philosophy of living with nature extends to the home we are building
which is based on natural forms and materials, and is built without
any steel or cement.